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Submissions from 2016
"Pushing the envelope in neurosurgery": dilemma of the appropriate indications, H. Abou Al-Shaar, M. A. Labib, and A. R. Dehdashti
Decompressive Craniectomy for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review, E. J. Barthelemy, M. Melis, E. Gordon, J. S. Ullman, and I. M. Germano
Supratentorial Neurenteric Cysts: Case Series and Review of Pathology, Imaging, and Clinical Management, S. Chakraborty, F. Priamob, T. Lovena, J. Li, S. Insinga, and M. Schulder
Seizure burden in subarachnoid hemorrhage: "Time is brain" as well!, G. Kapinos and J. G. Silva Latorre
Radioresistance of Brain Tumors, K. Kelley, J. Knisely, M. Symons, and R. Ruggieri
Time-delayed contrast-enhanced MRI improves detection of brain metastases and apparent treatment volumes, M. Kushnirsky, V. Nguyen, J. S. Katz, J. Steinklein, L. Rosen, C. Warshall, M. Schulder, and J. P. Knisely
Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Infection with Mycobacterium abscessus: A Rare Cause of Ventriculitis, Z. D. Levy, V. Du, A. Chiluwal, D. J. Chalif, and D. E. Ledoux
Neurosurgeons' Critical Role in Managing Traumatic Brain Injury, J. S. Ullman, S. D. Timmons, and A. B. Valadka
Submissions from 2015
Rare cause of trigeminal neuralgia: Meckel's cave meningocele, A. Alobaid, T. Schaeffer, J. Virojanapa, and A. Dehdashti
Celecoxib inhibits Ewing sarcoma cell migration via actin modulation, C. A. Behr, A. J. Hesketh, M. Barlow, R. D. Glick, M. Symons, B. M. Steinberg, and S. Z. Soffer
Synaptojanin 2 is a druggable mediator of metastasis and the gene is overexpressed and amplified in breast cancer, N. Ben-Chetrit, D. Chetrit, A. Abdul-Hai, T. Itkin, S. Carvalho, H. Cohen-Dvashi, W. J. Koestler, M. Symons, M. Ehrlich, Y. Yarden, and +21 additional authors
Comparison of indocyanine green fluorescent angiography to digital subtraction angiography in brain arteriovenous malformation surgery, C. J. Bilbao, T. Bhalla, S. Dalal, H. Patel, and A. R. Dehdashti
Repurposing mebendazole for the treatment of medulloblastoma, I. Bodhinayake, M. Symons, and J. A. Boockvar
Prolonged mechanical ventilation is associated with pulmonary complications, increased length of stay, and unfavorable discharge destination among patients with subdural hematoma, K. M. Busl, B. Ouyang, T. A. Boland, S. Pollandt, and R. E. Temes
Evaluation of Outcomes After Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery for Large and Giant Pituitary Macroadenoma: A Retrospective Review of 39 Consecutive Patients, J. D. Chabot, S. Chakraborty, G. Imbarrato, and A. R. Dehdashti
Sepsis: a roadmap for future research, J. Cohen, J. L. Vincent, N. K. Adhikari, F. R. Machado, S. Giulieri, J. Delaloye, S. Opal, K. Tracey, T. van der Poll, E. Pelfrene, and +3 additional authors
Ophthalmic artery aneurysm treated by surgical clipping and balloon-assisted temporary carotid occlusion, A. R. Dehdashti
Surgical treatment of a large ruptured internal carotid artery bifurcation aneurysm, A. R. Dehdashti
The suboccipital midline approach to foramen magnum meningiomas; feasible, but is it optimal?, A. R. Dehdashti
A New Tool in Defining Disease Progression in Glioblastoma, M. E. De Witt and J. A. Boockvar
Variables associated with the decreased risk of intraventricular haemorrhage in a large sample of neonates with respiratory distress syndrome, H. Doshi, Y. Moradiya, P. Roth, and J. Blau
Combining task-evoked and spontaneous activity to improve pre-operative brain mapping with fMRI, M. D. Fox, T. Qian, J. R. Madsen, D. Wang, M. Ge, H. C. Zuo, D. M. Groppe, A. D. Mehta, B. Hong, H. Liu, and +1 additional author
Toxin-Secreting Implantable Therapeutic Stem Cells, A. J. Gamble and J. A. Boockvar
Awake Craniotomy in Arteriovenous Malformation Surgery: The Usefulness of Cortical and Subcortical Mapping of Language Function in Selected Patients, A. J. Gamble, S. G. Schaffer, D. J. Nardi, D. J. Chalif, J. Katz, and A. R. Dehdashti
First-In-Human, Phase 1, Randomized, Dose-Escalation Trial with Recombinant Anti-IL-20 Monoclonal Antibody in Patients with Psoriasis, A. B. Gottlieb, J. G. Krueger, M. Sandberg Lundblad, M. Gothberg, and B. E. Skolnick
Tight regulation between cell survival and programmed cell death in GBM stem-like cells by EGFR/GSK3b/PP2A signaling, D. B. Gursel, M. A. Banu, N. Berry, R. Marongiu, J. K. Burkhardt, K. Kobylarz, M. G. Kaplitt, S. Rafii, and J. A. Boockvar
Laminar Profile and Physiology of the alpha Rhythm in Primary Visual, Auditory, and Somatosensory Regions of Neocortex, S. Haegens, A. Barczak, G. Musacchia, M. L. Lipton, A. D. Mehta, P. Lakatos, and C. E. Schroeder
Galantamine Attenuates Type 1 Diabetes and Inhibits Anti-Insulin Antibodies in Non-Obese Diabetic Mice, W. M. Hanes, P. S. Olofsson, K. Kwan, L. K. Hudson, S. S. Chavan, V. A. Pavlov, and K. J. Tracey
The Macrophage Inhibitor CNI-1493 Blocks Metastasis in a Mouse Model of Ewing Sarcoma through Inhibition of Extravasation, A. J. Hesketh, C. Maloney, C. A. Behr, M. C. Edelman, R. D. Glick, Y. Al-Abed, M. Symons, S. Z. Soffer, and B. M. Steinberg
Notch receptor expression in human brain arteriovenous malformations, S. Hill-Felberg, H. H. Wu, S. A. Toms, and A. R. Dehdashti
The Comparative Effectiveness of Specific Professional Educational Tools for Correcting Knowledge Gaps Among Practicing Neurosurgeons, B. L. Hoh, J. Curran, J. Rokicki, J. S. Ullman, B. R. Bendok, G. Rao, N. R. Selden, D. K. Resnick, and Z. Ghogawala
Redefining secondary injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage in light of multimodal advanced neuroimaging, intracranial and transcranial neuromonitoring: beyond vasospasm, G. Kapinos
Extended endoscopic endonasal transclival clipping of posterior circulation aneurysms-an alternative to the transcranial approach, M. Labib and A. R. Dehdashti
Single probe for real-time simultaneous monitoring of neurochemistry and direct-current electrocorticography, C. Li, K. Limnuson, Z. Wu, A. Amin, A. Narayan, E. V. Golanov, C. H. Ahn, J. A. Hartings, and R. K. Narayan
Evaluation of microelectrode materials for direct-current electrocorticography, C. Li, R. K. Narayan, P. M. Wu, N. Rajan, Z. Wu, N. Mehan, E. V. Golanov, C. H. Ahn, and J. A. Hartings
Highly accurate thermal flow microsensor for continuous and quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow, C. Li, P. M. Wu, Z. Wu, K. Limnuson, N. Mehan, C. Mozayan, E. V. Golanov, C. H. Ahn, J. A. Hartings, and R. K. Narayan
DAMP Signaling is a Key Pathway Inducing Immune Modulation after Brain Injury, A. Liesz, A. Dalpke, E. Mracsko, D. J. Antoine, S. Roth, W. Zhou, H. Yang, P. P. Nawroth, K. J. Tracey, R. Veltkamp, and +4 additional authors
Serum Amyloid A Stimulates PKR Expression and HMGB1 Release Possibly through TLR4/RAGE Receptors, W. Li, S. Zhu, J. Li, J. D'Amore, J. D'Angelo, H. Yang, P. Wang, K. J. Tracey, and H. Wang
Regulation of post-translational modifications of HMGB1 during immune responses, B. Lu, Y. Tang, X. Zhao, D. Antoine, X. Xiao, H. Wang, U. Andersson, T. Billiar, and K. J. Tracey
Inferiorly-Directed Posterior Cranial Vault Distraction for Treatment of Chiari Malformations, S. M. Lu, H. L. Rekate, N. Tanna, A. K. Kasabian, L. S. Leipziger, J. P. Bradley, and N. M. Bastidas
Concurrent use of the Pipeline Embolization Device and coils for intracranial aneurysms: technique, safety, and efficacy, E. Nossek, D. J. Chalif, S. Chakraborty, K. Lombardo, K. S. Black, and A. Setton
Forearm Cephalic Vein Graft for Short, "Middle"-Flow, Internal Maxillary Artery to Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass, E. Nossek, P. Costantino, D. J. Chalif, R. A. Ortiz, A. R. Dehdashti, and D. J. Langer
Analysis of superiorly projecting anterior communicating artery aneurysms: anatomy, techniques, and outcome. A proposed classification system, E. Nossek, A. Setton, R. Karimi, A. R. Dehdashti, D. J. Langer, and D. J. Chalif
Intracranial recordings reveal transient response dynamics during information maintenance in human cerebral cortex, N. Noy, S. Bickel, E. Zion-Golumbic, M. Harel, T. Golan, G. M. McKhann, R. R. Goodman, C. E. Schroeder, A. D. Mehta, R. Malach, and +2 additional authors
Single-Pulse and Unidirectional Electrical Activation of the Cervical Vagus Nerve Reduces Tumor Necrosis Factor in Endotoxemia, P. S. Olofsson, Y.A. Levine, A. Caravaca, S. S. Chavan, V. A. Pavlov, M. Faltys, and K. J. Tracey
Recidivism among ED super users after implementation of a pain protocol, B. Passarello, Z. Levy, B. Levine, M. Papas, and N. Jasani
Fascicular Involvement of the Posterior Tibial Nerve as a Result of Perineural Ganglion Cyst at the Posterior Tibial Nerve in the Calf: A Case Report and Review of Literature, C. Patel, S. M. Vishnubhakat, and R. Narayan
Neural circuitry and immunity, V. Pavlov and K. J. Tracey
A unifying principle underlying the extracellular field potential spectral responses in the human cortex, E. Podvalny, N. Noy, M. Harel, S. Bickel, G. Chechik, C. E. Schroeder, A. D. Mehta, M. Tsodyks, and R. Malach
Finally, open loop control of intracranial pressure in hydrocephalus, H. L. Rekate
Xanomeline suppresses excessive pro-inflammatory cytokine responses through neural signal-mediated pathways and improves survival in lethal inflammation, M. Rosas-Ballina, S. I. Valdes-Ferrer, M. E. Dancho, M. Ochani, D. Katz, K. F. Cheng, P. S. Olofsson, S. S. Chavan, Y. Al-Abed, K. J. Tracey, and V. A. Pavlov
Lumboatrial shunt in a patient with Crouzon syndrome complicated by pseudotumor cerebri, E. W. Sankey, M. H. Khattab, B. D. Elder, C. R. Goodwin, H. L. Rekate, and D. Rigamonti
Isolated cortical vein thrombosis: case series, R. Singh, W. P. Cope, Z. Zhou, M. E. De Witt, J. A. Boockvar, and A. J. Tsiouris
Progesterone in Traumatic Brain Injury REPLY, B. E. Skolnick, A. I. R. Maas, and R. K. Narayan
Multiportal Combined Transorbital and Transnasal Endoscopic Resection of Fibrous Dysplasia, T. Tham, P. Costantino, M. Bruni, D. Langer, J. Boockvar, and P. Singh
Approaching the Next Revolution? Evolutionary Integration of Neural and Immune Pathogen Sensing and Response, K. J. Tracey
SHOCK MEDICINE, K. J. Tracey
Delay in Arrival to Care in Perpetrator-Identified Nonaccidental Head Trauma: Observations and Outcomes, S. Vadivelu, D. Esernio-Jenssen, H. L. Rekate, R. K. Narayan, M. A. Mittler, and S. J. Schneider
HMGB1 mediates anemia of inflammation in murine sepsis survivors, S. I. Valdes-Ferrer, J. Papoin, M. E. Dancho, L. P. S. Olofsson, J. Li, J. M. Lipton, P. Avancena, H. Yang, Y. R. Zou, S. S. Chavan, B. T. Volpe, S. Rivella, B. Diamond, B. M. Steinberg, L. Blanc, K. J. Tracey, and +2 additional authors
Accuracy of the ABC/2 Score for Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Systematic Review and Analysis of MISTIE, CLEAR-IVH, and CLEAR III, A. J. Webb, N. L. Ullman, T. C. Morgan, J. Muschelli, J. Kornbluth, I. A. Awad, S. Mayo, M. Rosenblum, R. Narayan, D. F. Hanley, and +14 additional authors
Developments in intervertebral disc disease research: pathophysiology, mechanobiology, and therapeutics, K. T. Weber, T. D. Jacobsen, R. Maidhof, J. Virojanapa, C. Overby, O. Bloom, S. Quraishi, M. Levine, and N. O. Chahine
Exploratory study for identifying systemic biomarkers that correlate with pain response in patients with intervertebral disc disorders, K. T. Weber, S. Satoh, D. O. Alipui, J. Virojanapa, M. Levine, C. Sison, S. Quraishi, O. Bloom, and N. O. Chahine
Stress Induces the Danger-Associated Molecular Pattern HMGB-1 in the Hippocampus of Male Sprague Dawley Rats: A Priming Stimulus of Microglia and the NLRP3 Inflammasome, M. D. Weber, M. G. Frank, K. J. Tracey, L. R. Watkins, and S. F. Maier
HbSC Disease and Spontaneous Epidural Hematoma with Kernohan's Notch Phenomena, M. Yogarajah, C. C. Agu, B. Sivasambu, and M. A. Mittler
Submissions from 2014
The functions of HMGB1 depend on molecular localization and post-translational modifications Introduction, U. Andersson, D. J. Antoine, and K. J. Tracey
A Systematic Nomenclature for the Redox States of High Mobility Group Box (HMGB) Proteins, D. J. Antoine, H. E. Harris, U. Andersson, K. J. Tracey, and M. E. Bianchi
Targeting a heterogeneous tumor: the promise of the interleukin-13 receptor alpha2, I. Bodhinayake, M. Ottenhausen, and J. A. Boockvar
Results and risk factors for recurrence following endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenoma, I. Bodhinayake, M. Ottenhausen, M. A. Mooney, K. Kesavabhotla, P. Christos, J. T. Schwarz, and J. A. Boockvar
Nanocomposite Scaffold for Chondrocyte Growth and Cartilage Tissue Engineering: Effects of Carbon Nanotube Surface Functionalization, N. O. Chahine, N. M. Collette, C. B. Thomas, D. C. Genetos, and G. G. Loots
Novel hydrogel application in minimally invasive surgical approaches to spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Report of 2 cases, C. M. Chai, M. A. Banu, W. Cobb, N. Mehta, L. Heier, and J. A. Boockvar
Exemplar Selectivity Reflects Perceptual Similarities in the Human Fusiform Cortex, I. Davidesco, E. Zion-Golumbic, S. Bickel, M. Harel, D. M. Groppe, C. J. Keller, C. A. Schevon, G. M. McKhann, R. R. Goodman, G. Goelman, C. E. Schroeder, A. D. Mehta, and R. Malach
Sepsis: Current Dogma and New Perspectives, C. S. Deutschman and K. J. Tracey
Evoked Effective Connectivity of the Human Neocortex, L. Entz, E. Toth, C. J. Keller, S. Bickel, D. M. Groppe, D. Fabo, L. R. Kozak, L. Eross, I. Ulbert, and A. D. Mehta
Prophylactic plastic surgery closure of neurosurgical scalp incisions reduces the incidence of wound complications in previously-operated patients treated with bevacizumab (Avastin(R)) and radiation, A. R. Golas, T. Boyko, T. H. Schwartz, P. E. Stieg, J. A. Boockvar, and J. A. Spector
Conservative management of cavernous sinus cavernous hemangioma in pregnancy, J. S. Haber, K. Kesavabhotla, M. Ottenhausen, I. Bodhinayake, M. J. Dinkin, A. Z. Segal, Y. M. Lee, and J. A. Boockvar
Flow-based evaluation of cerebral revascularization using near-infrared indocyanine green videoangiography, J. Januszewski, J. S. Beecher, D. J. Chalif, and A. R. Dehdashti
Central cholinergic activation of a vagus nerve-to-spleen circuit alleviates experimental colitis, H. Ji, M. F. Rabbi, B. Labis, V. A. Pavlov, K. J. Tracey, and J. E. Ghia
Intracellular Hmgb1 inhibits inflammatory nucleosome release and limits acute pancreatitis in mice, R. Kang; Q. Zhang; W. Hou; Z. Yan; R. Chen; J. Bonaroti; P. Bansal; T. R. Billiar; A. Tsung; Q. Wang; D. L. Bartlett; D. C. Whitcomb; E. B. Chang; X. Zhu; H. Wang; B. Lu; K. J. Tracey; L. Cao; X. G. Fan; M. T. Lotze; H. J., 3rd Zeh; and D. Tang
Hypertensive crisis Reversible edema in leukoencephalopathy, retinopathy, now myelopathy?, G. Kapinos and P. C. Sanelli
Corticocortical Evoked Potentials Reveal Projectors and Integrators in Human Brain Networks, C. J. Keller, C. J. Honey, L. Entz, S. Bickel, D. M. Groppe, E. Toth, I. Ulbert, F. A. Lado, and A. D. Mehta
Mapping human brain networks with cortico-cortical evoked potentials, C. J. Keller, C. J. Honey, P. Megevand, L. Entz, I. Ulbert, and A. D. Mehta
Enhancement of Achilles Tendon Repair Mediated by Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibition via Systemic Administration of Doxycycline, M. W. Kessler, J. Barr, R. Greenwald, L. B. Lane, J. S. Dines, D. M. Dines, M. C. Drakos, D. A. Grande, and N. O. Chahine
Middle cerebral artery arrow sign, Z. D. Levy, R. E. Temes, and A. R. Dehdashti
Cardiac resuscitation: current practice and future directions, Z. Levy and T. Slesinger
Does Intravenous Magnesium Reduce the Need for Hospital Admission Among Adult Patients With Acute Asthma Exacerbations?, Z. Levy and T. L. Slesinger
Supratentorial cortical ependymoma: Case series and review of the literature, Z. G. Liu, J. Li, Z. Y. Liu, Q. Wang, P. Famer, A. Mehta, D. Chalif, Y. Y. Wang, and J. Y. Li
JAK/STAT1 signaling promotes HMGB1 hyperacetylation and nuclear translocation, B. Lu, K. Kwan, M. Robinson, M. A. D. Van Zoelen, H. Yang, J. Li, S. S. Chavan, H. Wang, U. Andersson, K. J. Tracey, and +5 additional authors
Molecular mechanism and therapeutic modulation of high mobility group box 1 release and action: an updated review, B. Lu, C. Wang, M. Wang, W. Li, F. P. Chen, K. J. Tracey, and H. C. Wang
Inflammation Induces Irreversible Biophysical Changes in Isolated Nucleus Pulposus Cells, R. Maidhof, T. Jacobsen, A. Papatheodorou, and N. O. Chahine
A distinct vagal anti-inflammatory pathway modulates intestinal muscularis resident macrophages independent of the spleen, G. Matteoli, P. J. Gomez-Pinilla, A. Nemethova, M. Di Giovangiulio, C. Cailotto, S. H. van Bree, K. Michel, K. J. Tracey, P. Vanden Berghe, G. E. Boeckxstaens, and +2 additional authors
Seeing Scenes: Topographic Visual Hallucinations Evoked by Direct Electrical Stimulation of the Parahippocampal Place Area, P. Megevand, D. M. Groppe, M. S. Goldfinger, S. T. Hwang, P. B. Kingsley, I. Davidesco, and A. D. Mehta
Semapimod Sensitizes Glioblastoma Tumors to Ionizing Radiation by Targeting Microglia, I. S. Miller, S. Didier, D. W. Murray, T. H. Turner, M. Issaivanan, R. Ruggieri, Y. Al-Abed, and M. Symons
Central Muscarinic Cholinergic Activation Alters Interaction between Splenic Dendritic Cell and CD4(+)CD25(-) T Cells in Experimental Colitis, P. Munyaka, M. F. Rabbi, V. A. Pavlov, K. J. Tracey, E. Khafipour, and J. E. Ghia
Guanine nucleotide exchange factor Dock7 mediates HGF- induced glioblastoma cell invasion via Rac activation, D. W. Murray, S. Didier, A. Chan, V. Paulino, L. Van Aelst, R. Ruggieri, N. L. Tran, A. T. Byrne, and M. Symons
The art of cerebral aneurysms-3 decades of postoperative drawings: review, classification, and efficacy for training, E. Nossek and D. J. Chalif
O-020 Modifying Flow in the ICA Bifurcation: Pipeline Deployment from the supraclinoid ICA Extending into the M1 Segment: Clinical and Anatomical Results, E. Nossek, D. J. Chalif, S. Chakraborty, and A. Setton
How I do it: occipital artery to posterior inferior cerebellar artery bypass, E. Nossek, D. J. Chalif, and A. R. Dehdashti
Modifying flow in the ACA-ACoA complex: endovascular treatment option for wide-neck internal carotid artery bifurcation aneurysms, E. Nossek, D. J. Chalif, M. Levine, and A. Setton
Internal Maxillary Artery-Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass: Infratemporal Approach for Subcranial-Intracranial (SC-IC) Bypass, E. Nossek, P. Costantino, M. Eisenberg, A. R. Dehdashti, A. Setton, D. J. Chalif, R. A. Ortiz, and D. J. Langer
Anterior petroclinoid fold fenestration: an adjunct to clipping of postero-laterally projecting posterior communicating aneurysms, E. Nossek, A. Setton, A. R. Dehdashti, and D. J. Chalif


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News & Events
AVNAH Honors Veterans
The Alliance Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice department of Alliance Community Hospital made several house calls on Veteran's Day --- but the service they delivered was honor.
"We wanted to brighten the day of some local veterans, so we decided to bring out some personal greetings of honor –and some cake!" smiled Doria Kisling, a social worker with AVNAH.
On Friday, November 11th, Kisling, along with ACH Chaplain Joe Peters, who is retired from the U.S. Air Force and Sergeant Ben Andre from the U.S. Marine Corps, visited with several AVNAH patients who happen to be veterans.
"This is just a little tradition we started a few years ago in order to pay honor to our local veterans who are AVNAH patients. We feel it's our duty to give them the thanks and gratitude they deserve—especially at this challenging time in their lives," she said.
In total, seven AVNAH patients, all retired U.S. military members, received the special salute from AVNAH last Friday.
PICTURED: Dora Kisling, AVNAH social worker, presents AVNAH patient Jack Rockhill with a cake thanking him for his military service, while Marine Sergeant Ben Andre and ACH Chaplain Joe Peters look on. Rockhill served in the 2nd Marine Division stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He served from 1950 to 1958, traveling to many places around the world including Italy, France, Greece, Crete, and Algeria.

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Welcome to our new website!!
Roswell Ford is the newest addition to the Krumland Auto Group "family of dealerships".
Acquired in February of 2018, Roswell Ford joins one of most respected and reputable Auto Groups in the nation. Owned and operated by Tom and Linda Krumland, Roswell Ford is now poised to offer the world class service and sales that customers in Southeastern New Mexico (and beyond) have come to expect.
Roswell Ford General Manager, Matt Johnson, strongly believes that customer service is the key to the success of any dealership. Matt brings his 25+ years of experience in the automotive industry - in both sales and service. His philosophy of "Placing the customer first" goes along with the Mission Statement of the Krumland Auto Group, which is "To constantly improve our process as to provide our customers with a level of service and goods we would want our best friends to receive. We will do this with respect for our customers time and money, in an environment and attitude that is helpful. From a friend you expect ethical, moral, honest, and respectful behavior, this is my promise to you."
--Thomas Krumland
Service Manager, Phil Kearns, brings an equally incredible 27 years of experience to the team. Phil is a Master technician with both diesel and gas engine certifications. Phil has owned and operated repair facilities throughout the Southwest and is highly regarded as an expert in Ford repairs and maintenance.
Parts Manager, Tim Hecker, brings his 30 years of Ford parts' management experience to the team. His philosophy of maintaining a parts department with the most up-to-date and readily available parts will streamline repairs and maintenance for our customers.
Between Phil and Tim - Roswell Ford now has one of the most respected and qualified service departments in the country. That translates to an amazing service experience for our valued customers.
It means you can trust that your vehicle is in the best hands possible.


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It's important for us to care for another when we are in need. If you'd love to take part in caring for our community at The Open Table, join our group.
The leadership group of The Open Table is responsible for curating the topics and format for our gatherings. We also have a great time together. If interested, send us a request to join.
Hospitality is a core value at The Open Table, so we want our gatherings to be welcoming to everyone. If you would like to help be part of the team that preps the space by setting the table, makes the rooms beautiful, or rustles up some food, join our group!
If you love playing music in a low-key environment, this is for you.
Are you a person who loves caring for infants and toddlers? If so, we'd love to make that happen! Join this group for more info.
If you love doing hands-on social justice work, join us for a variety of volunteer opportunities around town.
Let's hang out together. We schedule regular social gatherings all over town at various times, so join this group to stay up to date.


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We've been notified of this error.
Need help? Check out our Help Centre.
UNBUILT is a limited edition, biannual culture and lifestyle publication that debuted in April 2016. Conceived, developed, and designed by TOM BEJGROWICZ, Tom partnered with fellow editors D. RANDALL BLYTHE (Vocalist, Lamb of God) and ALEX SKOLNICK (Lead Guitarist, Testament) to bring UNBUILT to life. /// To order, please visit MAN ALIVE CREATIVE's online store HERE.
TOM BEJGROWICZ: "One of the goals of UNBUILT is to expand the scope of knowledge for both its readers and ourselves as editors. While Alex, Randy & I are bonded by music, that's just the tip of the iceberg for who we are as people. Not unlike Iron Maiden, Rush and Accept turning my teenage self onto the likes of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ayn Rand and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, I hope UNBUILT exposes its readers to new people, new ideas and different ways of seeing the world we live in." (photo by D. Randall Blythe)
D. RANDALL BLYTHE: "As a professional musician, I've traveled the world using the platform my band provides for artistic expression via my lyrics and voice. But for me, a four and a half minute heavy metal song doesn't have the space to convey some of the more complex points I wish to make, nor does it allow me to express myself visually. As a writer and photographer, UNBUILT supplies a well-designed outlet for those other (and equally important) aspects of my creative life." (photo by Kevin Wilson)
ALEX SKOLNICK: "Having spent untold hours of youth locked away with an instrument and some favorite records, writer' wasn't a description I imagined for myself early on. Years later, however, I found a written voice, along with the discovery that writing can be every bit as expressively satisfying as music. Now, after much blogging and contributing online, I'm excited to be part of a new printed format to take this vehicle into previously unexplored places. UNBUILT is curated by a small collective of likeminded friends who value creativity, don't fit into a box and prefer to think outside of it." (photo by D. Randall Blythe)
ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ: Joining the team for Issue 02, Alissa is a vocalist and activist who has dedicated the past 15 years of her life to work in human rights, animal rights and environmental protection. Alissa adds, "Art without passion is empty. Metal is such an amazing outlet for passionate fans and musicians alike. My passion has always been equality among races, genders and species. There is a lot of wrong in the world. Rather than complaining about it, I don't see why we shouldn't all DO something about it. It is this fire that fuels everything I do, especially my music."


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–What is the name of the site and URL?
The name of the site is MyCorporation and the URL is http://www.mycorporation.com
-A brief synopsis of the website/application:
Many people have a business idea they're ready to run with, but need help getting started. Especially now, in the midst of the weakened economy and uncertain job market, people are tackling that business idea that has been in the back of their mind for a long time. The many steps involved with forming a corporation or LLC can be complicated to the first-time business owner. MyCorporation makes the process of launching a business easy by providing online document filing services for clients interested in forming a corporation or limited liability company. MyCorporation also takes care of the legal part of starting a business, which saves our customers a lot of money that would have otherwise been spent on lawyers and the legal services involved in the initial stages of a business launch. To help our customers protect and maintain the legitimacy of their business, MyCorporation offers trademark searches and applications, copyright registrations, DBA registrations, registered agent services and many other products. MyCorporation is essentially a solution provider for people who know they want to launch their business but are unsure of where to turn for help.
-Why did you start this company?
MyCorporation was founded by small business website developer Intuit as a way to simplify the process of starting a business online. In 2009, I purchased MyCorporation from Intuit, and have held the title of CEO ever since. As the mom of two young boys, ages four and six, MyCorporation gave me the great opportunity to work flexible hours from home. Although I often put in a lot more time than the standard 40-hour workweek, one thing I love is being able to spend time with my sons while making a living doing something I enjoy.
-Who is your competition, and what do you do better?
LegalZoom is probably our biggest competitor. While they are a one-stop legal store that offers other services like divorce documents and will preparation, MyCorporation is focused on business and business only. Unlike LegalZoom, we're able to offer comprehensive solutions to new businesses. One of our bestselling products, called "Business in a Box" provides all the tools necessary for getting a business off the ground into one box. Our "Business in a Box" really provides everything needed to start a business— including access to Quickbooks and Intuit web resources, website and logo design, online bookkeeping and credit card processing, member or stock certificates, annual report services, operating agreements or bylaws, and registered agent services, to name a few. The "Business in a Box" helps professionals spend less time on getting up and running and more time on developing their products and services. Customer service is another aspect of MyCorporation that is better than LegalZoom. We also offer more personal service, including live customer service operators ready to take customer's calls around the clock, and we work in all 50 states in the U.S., giving us the capability to file all the paperwork and business documents that are required by law in each state for forming a business. We also offer follow-up services to assist our customers with routine business filings after their business is up and running.
-Why would a small business, entrepreneur, freelancer, etc. use MyCorporation?
An entrepreneur would use MyCorporation as a comprehensive solution provider for people starting a business. Many people looking to start a business don't know where to begin. MyCorporation gets the ball rolling and gets businesses up and running the legal way quickly, and saves money by getting it right the first time. The filing process for starting a business is lengthy and complicated. We help streamline the filing process before the client's business is incorporated, while it's in the process of being incorporated and after the filing process is complete.
-What different pricing levels do you offer?
MyCorporation offers four different packages that range from free to $299. The free package, "Just the Basics," includes name availability search, articles or organization and a newsletter subscription. The standard $99 package, "Up and Running," offers a business start-up, operating agreements and annual report services. The deluxe package, "New to the World," includes the standard package plus Registered Agent Service and NOLO guidebook for $199. The premium package that offers a complete and comprehensive business start-up solution, "Business in a Box," is the easiest way to start and run a business and includes everything you need including unlimited customer service for $299.
-Do you have a blog that keeps users updated?
Yes. MyCorporation's Weblog is constantly updated to keep customers informed on social networking trends, tips to registering trademarks, partnership protection, risk and reward tips and other topics helpful to small businesses.
-Are you on Facebook and Twitter?
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mycorporation
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MyCorp
-How long has MyCorporation been in business?
10 years
-How many current users does MyCorporation have?
MyCorporation currently works with more than 250,000 clients and renews an average of 200,000 existing memberships each year.
-How many clients do you currently have working with you?
I have 27 full-time employees working in our headquarters based in Calabasas, California. We also have a network of satellite offices in each state in the U.S.
-How do you see your company in the next 2-5 years?
One focus for MyCorporation is to focus on education—many people looking to start a business are under the misconception that they need to hire a lawyer to process the many legal documents that are required to establish a business. We want to educate entrepreneurs and potential clients about how MyCorporation makes it easy to start a business in just a few simple steps. We also want to show people that it is possible to follow your dreams of having your own business. You don't have to do it all yourself- that's what MyCorporation is for! Other than education, I look forward to building stronger networks, while continuing to focus on the small business and start-up market.
About MyCorporation
MyCorporation is a leading provider of online document filing services for clients who wish to form a corporation or limited liability company. For more than ten years, MyCorporation has helped small business clients amd real estate investors incorporate their businesses in a reliable and affordable manner. In addition to offering document filing services for online incorporation, MyCrporation also offers trademark searches and applications, copyright registrations, registered agent services and many more products that help customers protect and maintain the legitimacy of their businesses. For more information, visit www.mycorporation .com


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Words containing ahlerst
Found 1 words containing ahlerst. Browse our Scrabble Word Finder, Words With Friends cheat dictionary, and WordHub word solver to find words that contain ahlerst. Or use our Unscramble word solver to find your best possible play! Related: Words that start with ahlerst
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The Municipality of Pirkkala has long been one of the leading municipalities in Finland in both job and population development. The key strengths of the municipality, which has 18,500 residents, include its traffic location and the high level of education of the residents. The business areas are located along the ring road surrounding the city region and Lentoasemantie. The areas are easy to reach through four junctions and motorway service roads.
Read more at http://www.pirkkala.fi/in-english/business/
More information on the business areas and facilities:
Ahti Laakso
Business Development Director
tel. +358 44 486 1136
New or expanding business areas:
Partola is a diverse centre for trade. At the moment, the area has nearly 100,000 m2 of business facilities. The area is bordered by the junction of the ring road surrounding the city region, and it is approximately 5 km from Tampere city centre. The available plots are 2.7 hectares in size.
Businesses in the area: Bauhaus, Verkkokauppa.com, Motonet, Hong Kong, Citymarket, H&M, Vero Moda, Jysk
Linnakallio is a new business area for car trade and other retail requiring large space. The area is ready to build. The available plots are 0.5–8 hectares in size.
Businesses/operators in the area: Also Finland Oy, Posti Logistics Oy,Veho Hyötyajoneuvot, Vak Oy, fire station, VTA-tekniikka Oy
The area is bordered by the junction between the ring road surrounding the city region and Lentoasemantie. The area is being developed for industry, retail and office construction. No plots available.
Businesses in the area: TNT, DHL, Ramirent, Woikoski, Lamminsivu Oy, KL-Lämpö, Nekapaino, Nord Gear, Hämeen Laaturemontti, Golf Pirkkala, Dunlop Hiflex, Karava Sauna, DMG Mori, Hämeen Rakennuskone, Würth, Alanen
The airport business area is being developed as a technology area. The area also houses airport services and is situated by the airport. The plot available is 1.4 hectares in size.
Businesses in the area: Labkotec, TPI Control, TTS Liftec, Black Donuts Engineering, Glassrobots, Viatech, Uretek Worldwide, Ricoh, Finavia, Airpro


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Local Nonprofit Gets a Website Upgrade
We never take on a project we don't believe in. In this case, we feel even better knowing we've helped an organization that helps other people. Dawn Farm is an amazing addiction and recovery nonprofit and we're happy to have delivered a new customized WordPress theme, sophisticated donation capabilities and rich content management tools.


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I am happy to be living in a city that has a culture of supporting local and valuing organic foods. My own preference for buying organic when I can, has naturally filtered into how I choose wine as well. For me, the choice to buy wines from producers that farm with awareness goes beyond mere taste, although that is still an important factor when choosing wine. I also believe that we have a moral obligation, it is naive to think that the some of the chemical treatments used in the vineyards that kill unwanted "pests" do not adversely affect us.
As organic wine gains popularity, a lot of terms get thrown around. Let's have a look at some of the most common ones you may hear when discussing "green" wine:
Organic wine is produced from grapes without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. There is no one unifying set of standards when it comes to organic certification and labelling.
There are many wineries that have been farming and producing wine according to organic principles, but may not want to go through the bureaucracy of getting the official certification. The language on the label – biologique, biologico, ecologico all mean organic. Organic wine does not mean that the wine is a vegan, as animal products can still be used in the winemaking process – sorry to further complicate things!
There seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to the role of sulphur dioxide in winemaking (SO2). SO2 is a natural bi-product of fermentation, so all wines do in fact contain some sulphur, even if the amount is minimal. Some, if not most, wine from organically-grown grapes are finished with the addition of SO2 (usually minimum amounts) because it merely acts as a preservative to prevent premature spoilage of the wine. Unless you are buying your wine from the farmer next door and drinking it that day, most wines will need some SO2 to keep them from going bad. There is a lot more SO2 added to dried fruit, jam, and prepared soups than you'll find in a wine. If you are very sensitive and suffer from allergies or asthma, you may react after drinking a wine with mid to high levels of SO2. This is all the more reason to become more selective in your search for the most "natural" wine possible.
Lutte Raisonée (Reasoned Fight)
The use of chemicals in the vineyards is rationalized by assessing and evaluating risk. Lutte raisonée makes sense for the farmer who does not want to risk losing the crop if there is a threat so the use of chemicals is reserved for very specific treatments only when absolutely necessary.
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is really just about farming with ecological awareness; the focus is not merely on the economic viability of the vineyard but also on producing healthy fruit and respecting nature. This type of farming limits the need for chemicals and pesticides plus makes it possible to move towards cleaner farming practices over time.
Natural Wine
Most natural wines would be considered organic as well as biodynamic, although this is not always the case. These wines are produced without adding or removing anything during the winemaking process. Some winemakers do add small quantities of SO2 at bottling, though many do not. A truly natural wine has a short shelf life and if it is white, they tend to brown very quickly.
I am most intrigued by biodynamic farming these days. There are many aspects that seem really "out there", a lot about connecting with the earth. However when you start to look at what these vignerons are doing and actually taste a biodynamic wine, you may realize that these farmers are actually onto something. Without getting overly complicated, biodynamic farming cultivates a diversified, balanced and self-contained ecosystem in order to promote health and fertility in the vineyard. Learn more about biodynamics here.


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- Product Range
- Projects
- Morco Bespoke
- Commercial Awnings
- Services
- News & Info
- Contact
Our Greenwich Awning®, as installed on Gazelli, was developed in-house by our design team and is manufactured in our London workshop. The awning design is based on classic window coverings which have been common place on European buildings for centuries . A feature of the Greenwich awning is the wrap around front profile with colour coated finials which, in this case, are a complimentary addition to the pearl fabric with grey branding.
Opened in 2016 Premium lifestyle brand Gazelli launched Gazelli House, a new wellbeing project focusing heavily on skincare. The House aims to provide tranquillity in an otherwise hectic city environment. The interior is vibrant yet serene to make you feel as comfortable as you would in your own home. Meditation, life coaching, acupuncture, deeply diagnostic facials and massages take place and make the house a place of comfort and relaxation.
Kensington, London, contains museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum. To the north of the Walton Street area, is the Hyde Park Barracks of the Household Cavalry, with a distinctive 33 storey tower by Sir Basil Spence. The Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department is based in Walton Street.
Professional awning solutions for leading brands and busineses across the UK, Europe & worldwide. Call our sales team on 020 8858 2083 or enquire online


text: MainESPYS Honor Our FounderMichelle Canazaro Listen Michelle Canazaro Special Olympics Staff | Jul 10, 2017 | North America: Florida To train for winter sports, Michelle has no choice: she laces up her snow boots, straps on her skis, and heads to the beach -- even in blistering 90 degree heat. As one of the few 2017 World Winter Games athletes from Florida, she had a challenge finding show and snowdrifts to practice her maneuvers. She's a multisport athlete who's been with Special Olympics since age 8 (nearly 20 years ago!) In 2017, she attended her first World Games in Austria. Michelle is also an athlete leader -- and a multisport athlete: competing in swimming, paddle boarding, bowling, softball, soccer, basketball and snowshoeing. She also likes to draw, paint, and sing when she's not busy playing sports. She's a two-time gold medalist for paddle boarding in the State Games in Sarasota, Fla. She attended technical college and received a certificate from the Administrative Assistant program. She's now an office assistant at the Dan Marino Foundation, where she's worked for the last 3 years. About Me:Special Olympics is a global movement that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports, every day around the world. We empower people with intellectual disabilities to become accepted and valued members of their communities, which leads to a more respectful and inclusive society for all. Read More Stories Special Olympics Changed My Daughter's LifeKarina PinedoAfrica's Athlete Officiate Breaks Floor Hockey Record!Romi ReineckeFree Cataract Surgery from Lions Club for Kenya's Goal Keeper at World Winter Games 2017Romi ReineckeTeam Spirit Leads Sweden to Gold in FloorballSarah O'TooleYoungest Member of Bangladesh Team Takes SilverGenevieve JiangGrit WinsNance LarsenGirl PowerGenevieve JiangTaking Life In StrideNance LarsenCross-country Gold Medalist Turned Floorball PlayerHenry RullHermann Kröll: The Father of Special Olympics Austria Christian A. Hoch They Teach Me - Interview with Olympic Gold Medal Winner Apolo OhnoChristian A. Hoch Do You Have A Story to Share?Share Your Story More Stories


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ArchiGrace Limited Architects In Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire
ArchiGrace LimitedTel: 01753 709800
Mobile: 07411 235060
Gerrards Cross
Key Services
- Architectural Services
- Loft Conversions
- Planning Applications
- Residential Architects
- Commercial Architects
- Planning For Building Extensions
- Planning For Building Conversions
- New House Architects
- Building Planning Permission
- Property Refurbishment Architects
About ArchiGrace Limited
Here at ArchiGrace Limited, we are experienced new house architects, property refurbishment architects, commercial architects and residential architects who offer a wide array of architectural services such as extensions, loft conversions, planning applications, conversions, refurbishments and planning permission to customers throughout Gerrards Cross and the surrounding areas of Buckinghamshire. If you'd like additional information on the architectural services that we offer, be sure to get in touch with our experienced team today. We'd love to hear from you and assist you in any way we possibly can.
We're blessed with a truly fantastic team of architects here at ArchiGrace Limited, all of whom strive to achieve perfection with every single one of the architectural services that we offer. This is one of the main reasons why we firmly believe that we should be your first and only port of call for planning for building extensions, loft conversions, planning applications, planning for building conversions and building planning permission, anywhere in the Gerrards Cross area of Buckinghamshire. We have a real passion for what we do and we feel that this shows in every single one of the architectural services that we provide. We also pride ourselves on the architectural services that our team of commercial architects and residential architects carry out, which is yet another reason why we believe that we should be your only port of call for architects in Gerrards Cross. With over 15 years' worth of experience in providing architectural services, our aim is to provide a first-class professional service for all of our clients. We work with the planning departments of all local authorities and are well respected due to our detailed and well-presented architectural drawings.
Understanding the aims of our clients is fundamental to the success of every project. We spend time developing the brief for each project with our clients through a series of conversations and design sessions. We aim to maintain an open and responsive approach to every brief. We allow our clients to have the designs revised an unlimited number of times, until they are satisfied with the final brief. We regularly deal with all parties involved in the planning, design and construction process, enabling us to provide a personalised service. At ArchiGrace Limited, we also pride ourselves on our strong technical background which enables us to produce designs which are practical in terms of construction and sustainability, resulting in our clients receiving a bespoke design specific to budget and specification.
If you're based in Gerrards Cross or the surrounding areas of Buckinghamshire and you require additional information on the architectural services that we offer as commercial architects, new house architects, property refurbishment architects and residential architects, including planning for building extensions, loft conversions, planning applications, planning for building conversions and building planning permission, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team today. We're always here to take your call, deal with any enquiries and answer any questions that you may have regarding our fantastic architectural services. Alternatively, you can take a look at our website to see a full overview of the architectural services that we offer, we're sure you'll love what you find.
ArchiGrace Limited Reviews
I have first chosen Archigrace based on rating on website, I am absolutely delighted that I have chosen Archigrace. Ehsan has gone extra mile to get what we wanted. He himself takes initative to get maximum output for the project he undertakes. He has accomodated all changes whenever and whatever I have asked for. Our extension project approval was possible only because of Ehsan. He does his best. 100% value for the money.
Outstanding service received.
Ahsan not only designed our extension , he helped remodel the existing house. He explained all aspects of work and guided us through the planning permissions required. Very impressed with his professional approach and devotion to our project ,always willing to go that extra mile.
Definitely recommend their services !!!
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Leadership Development & Executive Coach
Habib specializes in the authentic and sustainable development of executives and organizations. His focus is on entrepreneurial leadership and followership which he develops in our clients through our integrative coaching methodology conducted over a prolonged period of in-depth engagement with the client. Furthermore, Habib supports and consults transformation projects on the topics of structure, hierarchy, processes, and culture.


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Sri Lanka reach 85/2 at lunch after Kohli tonIndia , the top-ranked Test side, declared their second innings at 3-240 after Kohli had completed his 17th Test hundred. As well as he has now become the only cricketer to have an average of fifty plus in all three worldwide formats.
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i have a pill that is long and white with a P (with a circle behind it it) on one side and on the other side there is a score down the middle and a 25 on one side of the score, im in Canada is that helps
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Search Console, as Ecomerce experts confirm, already reports on indexed pages in the 'Index Status' report. The Index Coverage report goes a step further by identifying pages that cannot be indexed, and providing tips on how to fix the issues.
AMP Issues ReportAnother update to Search Console that will rolled out soon is an AMP Issues report. This report will identify AMP issues on a site, sort them by error type, and highlight what needs to be fixed.
Once the AMP issues have been addressed you can click a button to notify Google. Google will then recrawl the affected pages and verify whether or not the issue has been fixed.
These two new reports will be available to select users as beta features within the next few weeks.


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Satellite discovers ancient adobe pyramid in PeruOctober 4th, 2008 - 4:16 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, Oct 4 (ANI): A new remote sensing technology in a satellite has helped discover an ancient adobe pyramid near Perus Cahuachi desert.
According to a report in Discovery News, Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of Italys National Research Council (CNR) discovered the pyramid by analyzing images from the satellite Quickbird, which they used to penetrate the Peruvian soil.
The researchers investigated a test area along the river Nazca.
Covered by plants and grass, it was about a mile away from Cahuachis archaeological site, which contains the remains of what is believed to be the worlds biggest mud city.
Via Quickbird, Masini and colleagues collected hi-resolution infrared and multispectral images.
After the researchers optimized the images with special algorithms, the result was a detailed visualization of a pyramid extending over a 9,000-square-mile area.
The discovery doesnt come as a surprise to archaeologists, since some 40 mounds at Cahuachi are believed to contain the remains of important structures.
We know that many buildings are still buried under Cahuachis sands, but until now, it was almost impossible to exactly locate them and detect their shape from an aerial view, Masini told Discovery News.
Cahuachi is the best-known site of the Nazca civilization, which flourished in Peru between the first century B.C. and the fifth century A.D. and slid into oblivion by the time the Inca Empire rose to dominate the Andes. (ANI)
- Two Sets of Pyramids Discovered In Egypt - Aug 14, 2012
- Archaeologists find mummy of young priestess from 300-450 AD in Peru - Nov 09, 2009
- India successfully puts three satellites into orbit - Apr 20, 2011
- Indian space agency postpones remote sensing satellite's launch - Feb 24, 2011
- Tomb of King Tut's wife may emerge in 2011 - Jan 04, 2011
- 3000-year-old conch trumpets played eerie notes - Nov 21, 2010
- New bird species discovered in Peru - Aug 07, 2012
- NASA: Astronomers discover Pluto's fourth moon - Jul 21, 2011
- Numerical pattern found in ancient Mexican city - Oct 28, 2011
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- 2,700-year-old human skeletons found in Mexico - May 20, 2010
Tags: aerial view, algorithms, andes, archaeologists, cahuachi, cnr, discovery news, fifth century, inca empire, masini, mounds, mud city, multispectral images, national research council, nicola, oblivion, pyramid, remote sensing technology, satellite quickbird, test area


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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Vacuum cleaner man has seen my T*T's
Raw footage from an
with a woman in Portland, Oregon is blowing up online . . . because for no apparent reason, she revealed to the local news that her vacuum cleaner salesman has seen her boobies . Apparently, someone had crashed their car into a building, and the woman saw it. And while she was talking about businesses that were nearby, she said, quote, "I know the vacuum cleaner man.
He's seen my tits." Why? Because she's just being honest.
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|Public Theology
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A Global Public Theology and Civil Society
A major figure in sociology discusses his current views on civil religion along with neoliberalism, Jurgen Habermas, Michael Walzer, the Iraq war, and George Bush's National Security Strategy.
By Robert N. Bellah
Editor's Note: Robert Bellah died on July 31, 2013. He was one of the most important sociologists of the past several decades. It is well to remember some of his major achievements so I am adding to this website a speech he gave at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University on October 26, 2007. The title was "Can We Imagine a Global Civil Religion?" Bellah was the Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley. I believe what he says here has major implications for what is called "public theology" today.
I'm very happy that there are people left after this heavy couple of days and that stunning session that just preceded us. I want to express, in spite of redundancy, my profound gratitude to the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, and particularly for the global thrust. And what initially was primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam has now stretched out to include all the great world religions.
And it seems to me that that's really what I want to talk about today, and what Professor Waldron, my immediate predecessor was talking about, the need for solidarity beyond a nation state. And that seems to me the work of the Center is very much moving in directions that will help build that solidarity.
But I want to start by commenting on my somewhat provocative title, and remembering that in my essay, Civil Religion in America, first published in Daedalus in 1967 exactly 40 years ago, which unfortunately quite a few people think is the only thing I ever wrote, I did discuss toward the end the possibility of what I called a "world civil religion." Naďve though it may sound today, the idea of a world civil religion as expressing what I wrote at the time, "the attainment of some kind of viable and coherent world order," was the imagined resolution of what I then called "America's third time of trial," an idea later developed in my book, The Broken Covenant. The first time of trial was concerned with a question of independence, and the second with the issue of slavery, but the third, as I then put it, was concerned with America's place in the world, and indeed the kind of world it would have a place in. That "viable and coherent world order" for which I hoped would, I believe, require "a major new set of symbolic forms." So far, I argued, "the flickering flame of the United Nations burns too low to be the focus of a cult, but the emergence of a genuine transnational sovereignty would certainly change this." So much in '67—a genuinely transnational sovereignty? This utopian idea is something we'll have to think about later. But I did hold that, though the idea of a world civil religion would be in one sense the fulfillment of "the eschatological hope of American civil religion" (and for Jean Elshtain's sake, I can remind her that I centrally mentioned Lincoln in that article), nonetheless "it obviously would draw on religions traditions beyond the sphere of biblical religion alone."
This extraordinary vision might make it seem that my essay of 40 years ago was hopelessly out of touch with reality. The resolution of the third time of trial being no closer today than it was then, perhaps even further away, unless one realizes that much of the actual text of that essay was a severe criticism of an America that had gone badly astray, and was not helping the world toward a viable and coherent world order at all. I included a long quotation from Senator J. William Fulbright about "the arrogance of power," and I went on to recall Robinson Jeffers whose poetry, I said, "seems more apt now than when it was written." Alas, today, those words are once again remarkably apt. Jeffers wrote, Unhappy country, what wings you have! ...
Weep (it is frequent in human affairs), weep for
the terrible magnificence of the means,
The ridiculous incompetence of the reasons, the
bloody and shabby
Pathos of the result. 1967—2007—where are we? In my own life, do I have to go through this twice? I must admit on occasion to saying "Vietnam" when I mean "Iraq." I envy those of you who have no actual memory of the Vietnam War since you will not have to go through the experience of seeing your country make the same catastrophic mistake twice in less than 50 years.
Still, we can hope—perhaps hope is all we have. Times of trial in human history have often been protracted, have lasted 100 years or more, and if ours seems to have no end in sight, we can still imagine the possibility, even the necessity, of a viable and coherent world order if our catastrophe—ecological, political, economic—is not to become total.
One thing I learned from the complex discussion of the 1967 essays is that for many, particularly religious believers, but also secularists, the idea of "a civil religion" was viewed as a threat, one religion competing with and threatening to displace other religions even as being established. And many of my critics quoted the kind of things that Jeremy Gunn cited at length in his talk, although that wasn't what my original paper was about – it was the prophetic side of civil religion, but nonetheless, civil religion is certainly a vexed and complex tradition at best. All my Durkheimian arguments that any really existing social group necessarily has a religious dimension, never quelled the opposition, to the point, where, by about 1980, I stopped using the term civil religion and talked about the same issues using other language, language that did involve me in endless futile discussions of definition. And thank God, the term doesn't appear in Habits of the Heart, so I never had to fight that battle again. So if American civil religion is a bad idea, a global civil religion can only be worse, and I can answer the question in my title, which as I said was meant to provoke as much as to describe in the negative: no, a global civil religion is not possible.
But for the creation of a viable and coherent world order, a world civil society is surely an essential precondition, and dare I say it, any actual civil society will have a religious dimension, will need not only a legal and an ethical framework, but some notion that it conforms to the nature of ultimate reality. The biggest immediate problem is the strengthening of global civil society, and it is on that that I want to focus this afternoon, but I will have some hints and suggestions that perhaps the religious communities of the world may have something to contribute to that global civil society, and indeed, that their participation may be essential for its success.
But first I think I have to raise a serious question, not one on the table in 1967, as to whether we don't already have a global civil religion. Harvey Cox raised this issue starkly in his essay, "Mammon and the Culture of the Market," a contribution to my Festschrift published in 2002. In his first paragraph, Cox says, "My thesis is that the emerging global market culture--despite those who do not, or choose not, to see it--is generating an identifiable, value-laden 'religious' world view. The market, Cox argues, is not seen as a human creation, but as a power beyond human control. In this view, the market is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. All we have to do, as individuals or nations, is to bow down to it. Its demands are beyond question.
Cox calls for a Christian theological critique of this God who is no God, and reminds us of Jesus' words, "You cannot serve God and Mammon," (Luke 16:13). The New Testament doesn't translate the Aramaic mammon into Greek, probably because it sounded like a pagan deity, which it is.
Although many are suffering under the rule of this deity, those who celebrate it can be found all over the world, in China and India as well as in the West, and, for the moment, they seem to be without serious opposition. But if the worship of Mammon is the new global religion, it is not one that can create a viable and coherent world order or a global civil society that might make that possible. On the contrary, it seems to make our grave problems, environmental catastrophe and the greatest inequality in human history, worse, not better. Can we understand what is happening and can we see any alternative?
I want to use some statements of Michael Walzer as a foil for my argument. I've learned much from him, have taught some of his books, so it was with some surprise that I sat down myself raising serious questions about his book, Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad. I was amazed to learn from him that humanity, in effect, does not exist. He writes:
Societies are necessarily particular because they have members with memories, not only of their own, but of their common life. Humanity, by contrast, has members but no memory, and so it has no history, no culture, no customary practices, no familiar life-ways, no festivals, no shared understanding of social goods. It is human to have such things, but there is no singular way of having them.And later in the book, he writes, "our common humanity will never make us members of a single universal tribe. The crucial commonality of the human race is particularism: we participate, all of us, in thick cultures that are our own." This is especially news to me since I have spent much of my life, particularly the last 10 years, writing the history of humanity in a book tentatively entitled, Religion and Human Evolution.
What I would question in Walzer's position is the idea that the global and the particular are mutually exclusive, that one lives in one and only one community, which, were it true, would truly make the idea of membership in "a single universal tribe" impossible. I would argue, on the contrary, that humans have never lived in one and only one community, and that we almost always, and in modern times always, live in many overlapping communities, and, under the rule of Mammon, none of them are particularly thick. To affirm that humanity has no memory, no history, and no culture seems to be remarkable at a time when there is widespread popular interest in human origins, in human evolution, and, since the pioneering work of William McNeill in World History. And if the Olympic Games and, for much of the world, the World Cup, aren't global festivals, what are they? According to Wikipedia, 715 million people watched the 2006 World Cup.
Harold Berman has eloquently argued for the existence of world law, which necessarily implies at least the beginnings of world politics and world civil society. While we have no world state, and wouldn't want one, the beginning of world governance, which is not the same thing as a world state, we certainly have. A remarkable example is the fact that air traffic control and the rules for landing and taking off at airports are the same all over the world. Even more obviously, our global economy would be impossible were there not a plethora of rules, some legal, some customary, governing global trade and capital transfers. That world society doesn't exist and each of us is stuck in his or her particularistic tribe, as Walzer affirms, seems to be remarkably far from the truth.
World culture can be traced all the way back. The bow and arrow, for example, has been adopted by every place on Earth except Australia, long before history. Stith Thompson traced motifs in folklore that can be found in every continent. I have news for you—there are many stories in the Bible that are shared by people all over the world. You may not know that, but if you study, you will find that there is more sharing going on through history than we ever dreamed. Even the nation state is a cultural form that has been transmitted with remarkable fidelity over the entire world since the 19th century, as the work of John Meyer and his associates have abundantly shown. Global culture, which I would insist is a deep feature of human history, is not the same thing as global civil society or global governance. Civil society is a relatively late idea, only emerging for the first time in the West in the 18th century.
It is worth noting that world trade, often the carrier of world culture, can be traced back into the deepest recesses of human history, but was growing in importance since classical times when China and India were linked in a variety of ways with the Middle East and Europe. After the European discovery of the New World, trade truly became global. A principled independence of the market from state and guild monopolies was a feature of the early modern period, pioneered in Britain, but rapidly defusing to other societies and making possible the emergence of modern capitalism.
Developing only slightly later, but overlapping the disembedding of the economy, was the emergence of civil society, or the public sphere, a realm of thought, argument and association independent of the state, but leading to the formation of what came to be called public opinion, which politicians could ignore at their peril. I will use civil society as virtually synonymous with public sphere – I know there's a lot of argument about terminology, but for the sake of this talk—in a way that has become common in recent writings, to refer to forms of communication and association that have been disembedded from the state and are not directly controlled by the market. In the 18th century, the main problem was to achieve independence from the state, and the institutionalization of human rights was the essential precondition for the independence of civil society. The First Amendment to the American Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion, speech and assembly is the legal basis that makes civil society possible in our country, and similar developments have followed, not without much struggle and backsliding, elsewhere ever since, even where such rights are included in constitutions, are consistently violated in practice. This again suggests that culture and even law have spread where institutions and practices have not yet fully developed.
Civil society, though oriented to the discussion and advocacy of political issues, lacks the capacity to make binding decisions. However, it is closely related to another 18th century idea, the sovereignty of the people. It was Robespierre who first gave the idea of democracy a positive meaning after centuries during which it was usually a pejorative term. Democracy is a way of exercising the sovereignty of the people, gave civil society the right, not to make political decisions, but to elect those who would. This idea has now achieved global legitimacy, even where it is often honored in the breach. Most writing about civil society has taken the nation state as a basic frame of reference, though of late there has been quite a bit of discussion of global civil society. Alejandro Colas has made the useful point that civil society was international virtually from the beginning. Though it may have originated in Britain in the 18th century, it was already disseminated to the American colonists, whose actions in turn were widely influential on the continent, as were British practices. In fact, all the great modern ideologies—liberalism, nationalism, socialism, in our time feminism, environmentalism—have been international and involved not only cross-national communication of a variety of sorts, but many international associations. We may think of nationalism as antithetical to globalism, but nationalism has always been an international phenomenon. Colas cites the interesting example of Giuseppe Mazzini, the most important theorist of Italian nationalism in the 19th century, who established in 1847 the People's International League whose objectives he defined as:
to disseminate the principles of national freedom and progress; to embody and manifest an efficient public opinion in favor of the right of every people to self government and the maintenance of their own nationality; to promote a good understanding between the peoples of every country.I'm not saying that much of the subsequent nationalism would ever have appealed to Mazzini, who was a liberal, a democrat, a profoundly humane person. Once the cat got out of the box, we know horrible things happened. But the original idea was itself humane, and it was certainly international.
Mass communications, but particularly the Internet, have made possible the organization of global public opinion to a degree unimaginable only a few years ago. Adam Lupel has described a remarkable event:
On 15 February 2003 across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia as many as 30 million people took to the city streets to express opposition to the planned invasion of Iraq. It seemed an extraordinary moment for global civil society, perhaps for the first time living up to its name. The antiwar movement appeared to accomplish in a day what four years of transnational activism against neo-liberal globalization could not. It brought together constituencies from East and West, North and South, into a broad-based movement with a common, clear objective: stop the US-led drive to war. The next week saw what was perhaps a Pyrrhic victory for global civil society. The protests no doubt contributed to the Bush administration's defeat in the U.N. Security Council. But in the end they also contributed to the heightened sense that the United Nations and global civil society were impotent next to the hegemonic power of the United States….Using this example in both its positive and negative aspects as a starting point, we can ask, where are we? Granted that there is a global economy, global culture, global law, global civil society, even global festivals, why are global institutions both so promising and so weak? I will turn to Jürgen Habermas, Europe's leading social philosopher, for help, particularly in his remarkable essay of 1998, "The Postnational Constellation and the Future of Democracy." Habermas organizes his discussion around attention between two central facts in our present situation: 1)The nation state is the largest form of society that has been able to create a sense of common membership powerful enough to convince the majority of the citizens that they have a responsibility for all, including the least advantaged, thus giving rise to significant redistribution in what we have come to call the welfare state; and 2) the rise of the global neoliberal market ideology and practice has everywhere threatened the capacity of nation states to carry out the responsibilities inherent in the notion of common membership.
What Habermas is describing is a double disparity between economics and politics: economics is seen as the realm of the natural, not the social, whereas politics is the sphere of intentional social choice. But when nations are the sole locations of effective politics and the economy has become global, then the disparity and power between global economy and even the strongest state means that it is the economy that will determine outcomes in the end. In this situation Habermas asks whether "we can have a politics that can catch up with global markets" in order to avert the "natural" disaster that an uninhibited market economy seems to entail—that we know from history has always entailed. Another way he puts it is to stress the need of "a world domestic policy," because we are now living in a world, not in nation states alone, and the world market requires such a policy. As a practical example, though one with implications for even larger forms of political cooperation, he takes the European Union and the difficulties it has faced in becoming more effective than simply a currency union. Habermas uses the example of what he calls the modern state as a constitutional republic, no longer a nation in the sense of a particular ethnic group, but including people of various ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds, yet united in what he calls an abstract constitutional patriotism such that its members can still identify with each other and even sacrifice some of their own advantages for the common welfare. He points out that an effective European Union would require that "Swedes and Portuguese are willing to take responsibility for one another." To the degree that the EU has given special advantage to its poorer members, this has actually begun to happen, with apparent public support, though not without some opposition. But he points out that the neoliberal economy not only pressures all nations to lower wages and decrease benefits, but also to lower taxes to the point where the state no longer has the resources to carry out social programs. A really effective EU would be able to stop or reverse this tendency by setting minimum wages and higher taxes across the Union. Ultimately, of course, a global union would be necessary to reverse the neoliberal drive to the bottom.
The most fundamental question that Habermas is raising is whether a global civil society and some forms of global governance are possible, a civil society and governance that would not replace nation states but would place some limits on their autonomy, as the global economy already does. And here there is a question of what kind of people we are. Could we as Americans accept the notion of common global membership such that we would be willing to give up something of ours for the sake of Somalians or Vietnamese? It is at this point that I think we have to ask what are the cultural resources for thinking of global citizenship that would go along with global economics and moderate its excesses? Is abstract constitutional patriotism enough? It is here that we have to consider philosophical and religious resources for thinking about membership in global civil society, membership that would entail at least short-term sacrifice.
Since we actually have since the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its subsequent elaborations something that can be called a global ethic, sometimes referred to as the human rights regime, we can ask how much help we can derive from this consensus, one that is not simply an ideal, but that has significant legal weight, though by far not enforceable everywhere, not even in the original home of the legal human rights, the United States. And we can ask whether the questions raised by non-Western and non-Christian thinkers about the adequacy of an exclusive emphasis on human rights can be answered, as well as the question whether an exclusive focus on human rights may not be part of the problem, however much in the end it is surely part of the solution.
Since human rights, emancipation, and enlightenment are part of the modern project, ethically construed, they are shared by significant actors all over the world. They are not the concerns of Westerners as opposed to non-Westerners (indeed, they have Western as well as non-Western opponents) nor are they limited to the modern scene as a finite and completed period in human history, as the postmodernists argue.
To the extent that human rights, as we understand them, have significant Christian historical roots, something many supporters of human rights may not be aware of or care to be aware of, it is also worth remembering that Christianity is now a global phenomenon. Webb Keane in his powerful new book Christian Moderns has pointed out that at the beginning of the 21st century, one-third of the world is now Christian and that one-third of those Christians live in former colonies. I used to think that the Christian Century, for which Marty writes and which I read faithfully, was foolishly named at the end of the 19th century. The 20th century was the Christian century? Oh, tell me about it! Oh, as Keane points out, many of the leaders of non-Western countries, including formerly leaders of independence movements, were educated in missionary schools even though they were not converts. And one could add that reform movements in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam have been to more than a small degree a response to Christian, particularly Protestant, examples. So if there is a relation between Christianity, modernity, and human rights, it has for some time been global and can no longer be dismissed as Western.
I wonder if Habermas' abstract constitutional patriotism will ever be enough. It is one thing to believe in abstract principles. It is another to mobilize the motivation to put those principles into institutional practice. Hans Joas has recently pointed out, following the pioneering work of Georg Jellinek, that Max Weber picked up, that though ideas about human rights go way back in Western history and include classical Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist thinking, it was only when the American sectarian protestants in the 18th century, mainly the Baptists and Quakers, were willing to fight for them that they got included in the American Constitution. Religious fervor is always problematic because it has so often been used for evil as well as good purposes, but it may be that only such a powerful motivation could make human rights genuinely practical. And though Christianity has a big contribution to make, it is surely not alone. Confucians hold on the basis of the Analects of Confucius that "all within the four seas are brothers." Buddhists identify not only with all human beings but with all beings in the universe, natural as well as human. For millennia these deep commitments have been held but never effectively institutionalized. Can the world's religions now mobilize their commitments so that they can at last have genuine institutional force?
What the world requires now must go on at many levels, religious, ideological, political on the global, national, and local levels. But one thing Habermas' scenario requires is very evident; however difficult to achieve. We must now turn the idea of being citizens of the world into a practical citizenship, willing to be responsible for the world of which we are citizens. And here, Jeremy Waldron's point that human beings, which in different ways all the great religions hold, have, warrant an ultimate reality for their being are not limited to any nation state. And if we respect them and hope that the respect for them will be institutionalized, such institutions must transcend the nation state. I truly believe that there are millions of citizens of the world today in every country willing to make the necessary commitments. When I see what the Scandinavian countries spend on aide to the poorest of the poor, percentage of GNP many, many, many times higher than our own, I wonder if those countries are not already a majority citizens of the world. Whether they are in the majority or not, the problem is politicians will continue to pander to short-term interests until their constituents force them to do otherwise. What we need is to turn a growing minority into an effective majority.
For those of us in the United States, a classical example might be instructive. As far as I know, the first usage of the idea of being citizens of the world originated with the Stoic philosophers in the ancient Mediterranean. They thought of themselves as kosmou politai, literally, citizens of the world. But for us it is worth remembering that even the Roman stoics who tended to write in Greek, actually—Marcus Aurelius' meditations are in Greek, if you don't remember—there is no Latin translation. Sheldon Pollock speculates, following Ovid, that this was because the Romans thought that their task was "to transform the kosmos into their polis, or rather to transform to use their own language, the orbis into their urbs, the vast world into their own city." If one looks at George Bush's National Security Strategy of September 2002 one can see that he claims the oversight of the entire world for the United States, which might explain why Americans have been hesitant to become citizens of the world.
Because I see neoliberalism as the source of our deepest global problems it might be thought that I'm opposed to it altogether. That would be as foolish at this point in history as to be opposed to capitalism altogether. What I worry about is the destructive consequences of the naturalization of neoliberalism so that it has no effective challenge. I agree with Habermas that world politics needs to catch up with the world economy so that an effective structure of regulation can be created that will protect the environment and the vulnerable of the earth who are paying the price while only a few are reaping the benefits. If this is a political challenge, it is also a religious challenge. I am convinced that religious motivation is a necessary factor if we are to transform the growing moral consensus and the significant beginnings of world law into an effective form of global solidarity and global governance. Thank you.
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Three simple gifts of wings
I spent the weekend at a friend's cottage. On Saturday morning as I read my book in the sun, an object helicoptered out of the sky and landed on my page.
I took time to examine it closely. The maple key looked like a feathered wing.
After lunch I sat with our friends to enjoy a drink. A dark dragonfly landed on my arm and stood out in contrast to the white shirt I was wearing. I appreciated its presence and examined the wings closely until it flew away. I didn't expect the visit, so I didn't have a camera handy, but this photograph by Kirsten Pauli will give you the idea.
The sky on Sunday morning looked like this.
I took some time to appreciate three simple gifts of wings from nature. I felt rich.
The glass that had held my drink on Saturday afternoon read, "To be rich is no longer a sin; it's a miracle." I dislike the word sin and I don't really believe in it, but I might be convinced to believe in the miracle of the gift of wings.
Lawns, mothers, children and rough Mother's Days
It was Mother's Day on Sunday in North America, and on my walk yesterday I ruminated over the dark side of the day that I kept bumping up against over the weekend.
- The father of young children whose mother died too soon. Her young boys braced for a Mother's Day where the empty space where her unconditional love used to be loomed large.
- A mother estranged from her teenagers due to a difficult family break-up.
- A note from an acquaintance on social media to "everyone, but especially to those who never got the mother they deserved. Today can be a rough day, but I'm here with you. I see you."
As I walked ideas bounced around my brain, but when I arrived at those two very different side-by-side lawns, it led my thoughts to perfectionism and unconditional love (freely given, withheld or ripped away).
The lawn at the bottom of the picture is Perfect Mother as we all want to be: an unblemished Plato Ideal.
But the lawn at the top is the mother we really are: messy, rutted, and weed-filled.
I imagine that the carefree state of the lawn at the top drives the owner of the dark green manicured lawn crazy, its imperfections judged and remarked upon. Every mother knows what it is to be judged. Too lenient, too strict, too involved, too arm's length, too busy working, too much at home, too preoccupied with appearance, too slovenly . . . too, too, too . . .
We are human beings that make mistakes. We lose our tempers. We're tired. We can never live up to the many variations of Ideal Perfect Mother, and our children are the first to home in on our failings and foibles.
If we're lucky, our children grow to understand and accept our imperfections and love us unconditionally, but that's not always the case.
The lawn at the bottom is Perfect Child: the unblemished Plato Ideal.
But the lawn at the top is children as they really are: messy, rutted, and weed-filled.
Parents usually come to the task of parenting with the misguided belief that their children will grow into miniature versions of themselves who will follow the paths laid out for them. Surprise! Children are singular and self-directed and not at all what we expect.
They are human beings that make mistakes. They're figuring out who they are and trying to find a way to love whatever that is. They can never live up to the many variations of Perfect Child, and parents are the first to home in on their failings and foibles.
The most important thing parents can do is love their children unconditionally as imperfect as they are, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes it happens, but the parent is taken away too soon.
A rough day
Messages all around us on Mother's Day portray the Perfect Mother and Child ideal. One could easily be mislead into believing that every family situation is unblemished and shiny like that manicured lawn, instead of complicated, sometimes painful, and ever-evolving.
On my walk, the first lawn struck me as falsely green, drugged into submission and more concerned with appearances than authenticity. I preferred the messy lawn. No pretense, no trying too hard, and no plastering over imperfections.
I enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, I hope you did too. But if you had a rough day, it's okay and ever-evolving.
Kids know: Sharing and including is way more fun
A surprising lesson from a kids game:
I played musical chairs with my Sunday school kids in two ways. First the traditional version with chairs numbering one less than the players participating arranged, music played, and when the music stopped the children scrambled to claim a chair. One sad-faced child did not find a seat and skulked away, excluded to watch forlornly while the other children played. One more chair removed, and so on.
For the second version, we started out with one less chair at the beginning, same as always, and we removed one chair on each round, same as always. The difference was no child was ever eliminated or excluded. When the music stopped, the children found chairs BUT everyone had to have a place, even if it meant sharing.
What warmed my heart more than anything? The kids shared their chairs even when they didn't have to.
They didn't evenly distribute themselves to claim space and only share when there were no more empty chairs. We removed one chair per round and when the music stopped there would be two or three left over. Kids reached out to take other kids by the hand to say, "Sit with me." They were smiling and laughing and hugging. It was wonderful.
Including everyone was happier than excluding and rejecting. Sharing was more satisfying than staking out space alone.
The first time the kids played they did as they were told and followed the rules of the game. They didn't question the dog-eat-dog nature of the game. The second time they also followed rules, but they were better thought-out rules, and it was way more fun. Inclusion is important in our affirming church. The kids lived that intuitively when playing a game.
How often do we follow dog-eat-dog rules without question when we could easily change the rules to a much more fun, satisfying option?
We must be careful and mindful of the rules we teach our children. What an awesome responsibility.
Time . . . because will you see the next sunset?
We have an art gallery in our church. A recent display featured the work of Leonard Minni, an artist who lived in Rwanda before during and after the 1994 genocide.
He visited our congregation to tell us about the theme for his exhibition: Time.
The crowd listened in awed silence as he told us that many of his pieces involve sunsets, because when he watched the sun set during the trauma in 1994 he wondered if he would live to see the sun rise, and would he live to see another sunset?
One never knows what life holds.
Savour moments as precious. Soak up those sunsets. Be mindful with your Time.
Phases of our lives that happen to someone else
Our car pulled up at the end of the long rural driveway that leads to the farm I lived on for the first sixteen years of my life. As I looked over the property, the nooks and crannies of the place felt both intimately familiar to the marrow of my bones and foreign at the same time. I can't believe I used to live there. That feels like it happened to someone else, I thought. As those unspoken thoughts ran through my head, my mother said out loud, "I can't believe I lived there for 24 years."
That was on Easter weekend when we drove the hour up Highway 417 to visit my mother. On our way back from our lunch together, we did what people used to do as a form of entertainment: We went "for a drive."
We drove by my old high school. Memories, fresh and distant at the same time, popped around my head. In high school I was a shy girl who followed every rule and never challenged authority. That girl is so different from me now she feels like a different person. (The one time I got kicked out of class was when I rolled my eyes at a history teacher for showing yet another film instead of actually teaching us something.)
We stopped at the corner of that rural road beside the former one-room schoolhouse where my mother used to teach. I missed attending that school by one year. It was still open when I was five, but there was no kindergarten in our area at the time. That school closed and I started Grade 1 "in town." I remember the building as a school and my own start at education, but it's so long ago and far away and different that it feels like it happened to someone else.
The trip triggered memories of other phases of my life: university years, when the things I did had to have been done by a different person; the early working years, when I managed to have a lot of fun with no money; and the thrilling exhaustion of new motherhood, a time that turned me into a different person more than anything else could have ever do.
Statistically I have thirty or forty years ahead of me.That's a lot of room for new phases for me (the one that I am in any given moment) to live to the fullest, and for me (the future me) to look back on someday.
What will those phases will be? I can't wait to find out.
The love in a name
The newel knob of our banister is a catch-all for items of clothing, headphones and strappy purses. Yesterday, those items coincidentally fell into place so it looked like we had a new family member.
I posted the picture on my Facebook feed and immediately received suggestions to give our creation a name. All of us picked up a "he" vibe even though the scarf and hat belong to my daughter. Stumpy, Lanister, and Billy Bannister were some ideas. A clever friend suggested Roger to pay homage to the runner.
Cows with names make more milk, so there must be something to the idea that to be named is to be worthy of love. We name or pets, cars, boats, and stuffed animals. When we name them we make them part of our family, and we love them.
If we number things things—or people—on the other hand, it deems them unworthy of love, dehumanizes them. The Nazis knew this.
When we bestow a name, when we take time to ponder possibilities, filter through meanings, and find just the right feeling, it is an act of love.
For some reason, I found the name Philip hilarious. Welcome to our family Philip Banister. I can tell you're the kind of guy who has never relied on looks to get by so you developed a killer sense of humour. I expect we'll have lots of laughs together.
I'd love to hear about the named things you love.


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